Sheriffs have been asked by Mzuzu High Court to return property seized from Minister of tourism Youth Sports and Culture Grace Chiumia.

This happened on July 11 2014.

According to information gathered by Faceofmalawi, Sheriffs operating under the orders from High Court on June 17 2014 invaded and seized Chiumia and Chisomo Garry Widows Organisation’s property following a default judgment on May 5 2014 to have the two defendants pay Mwiza Mkandawire debt of K13647237 (about $36000) and interest of five percent per year from May 5 2014.

But lawyers for the minister, Patrick Ngwira, applied for a stay of execution in the same court which was granted on Thursday.

Ngwira in an affidavit told the court that Chiumia was wrong party in the proceeding, noting that the defendant should have been Hope Ministries.

Chiumia was put as first defendant as she signed the sale agreement of Mwiza lodge in Mzuzu and was involved in payment transactions.

“Upon receipt of the summons, our office engaged in discussions with legal practitioners for the plaintiff Lameck and company, that the first defendant be struck off from these proceedings as she is not the proper party.

“We outlined the whole background of the matter to the plaintiff’s legal practitioner where it was clear that the defendants are not proper parties to these proceedings.

“An agreement was reached to remove the first defendant from the proceedings by consent and we duly drafted the consent order and served it on the plaintiffs lead practitioners for signing”, reads part of the affidavit.

Following the warrant of execution be stayed and that the defendants should file an inter-parte summons to set aside the default judgment within seven days.

“It is further ordered that the goods seized by sheriff of Malawi so far be returned to the defendants and that the issue of sheriff fees be determined on hearing of the application to set aside the default judgment “, reads the order of the stay execution.